Ranger6
Nov 6th, 2006, 1:35 pm
This should perhaps go in another forum, but because of the location I thought I would put it here and test the water.
Several of you know that I serve as a USA Triathon Official during the triathlon and duathlon racing season from April-November of each year. The bulk of my job at these events consists of mounting up as a passenger on the back of a motorcycle and riding the bicycle portion of these races and enforcing USA Triathlon rules by assessing time penalties for drafting and other position fouls that are not allowed the cyclists by the rules. Unfortunately, cheating has crept into the sport of triathlon, and since triathlons and duathlons are “time trial” style events, in that it is an individual race against the clock rather than a team sport like you might see while watching the Tour de France, etc., and since drafting behind another cyclist affords the person drafting (within 3 bike lengths) a tremendous energy savings advantage, enforcement of the drafting and other “position foul” rules are extremely important to insure a consistent degree of fairness is delivered to the event for ALL athletes competing, especially those abiding by the rules.
This past weekend, I officiated at Ironman Florida in Panama City Beach, FL, and without going into great detail, let me just say that the motorcycle support for the event started out with the potential of turning into a real fiasco. The motorcycle support had not been centrally coordinated for starters, and to top it off there were way fewer than we actually needed to do the job. If any of you have ever watched an Ironman Triathlon on TV, especially the one in Kona, Hawaii, then you know it is a high profile event, with multiple national level sponsors providing thousands in prize money to the professionals in the race, many of whom are Olympians; thousands of people in attendance and helping out, TV and press coverage everywhere, etc. It's not hard to imagine then how important it is that every detail be executed with precision, especially when the prize money of professional athletes is at stake. For reasons not hard for us to understand, BMW has become the support motorcycle of choice for these events to transport as passengers not only the press and TV video cameramen out on the course, but the race officials as well. The reasons include but are not limited to the fact that BMW’s are quiet, thus not telegraphing your presence if you are trying to catch “cheaters”; BMW riders are usually more accomplished riders and more adept at carrying passengers in challenging situations; on average are more maneuverable in tight places even the LT, etc., whereas the use of Harley’s and sport bikes, although appreciated for their willingness to work the event, leave something to be desired. Even today I am still a little stiff from having spent all day on the back of a Harley Road King :( , much less though than those poor slobs who were stuck all day on the back of a sport bike while trying to officiate…ouch. If you are a member of MOA, then you might have read an article in ON back in the Spring about providing moto support for the Ironman series and already have an idea of what I am talking about here.
So, the point of all this…aware that I rode an LT, the head official asked if I would be willing to be Moto Captain for next year’s Ironman Florida, with the goal of assembling 15-20 BMW’s to support the bike portion for the media and race officials in order to bring an elevated level of professionalism to this race. Initially I told him no, because 1.) I wasn’t sure I wanted to get that heavily obligated and involved in the first place, and 2.) since I don’t live in the area, I wasn’t sure I would be in a position to even begin rounding up that many BMW’s. UNLESS however, and this is why I am throwing this out to you, the race was willing to compensate and make the trip worthwhile to the riders something along the lines of:
A room provided to those not living in the immediate area
A stipend of $50-$75 dollars to work the event
A per mileage compensation to and from home in travel expenses
Complementary meals and access to VIP areas with food and drink day of race
The timeline would be same weekend in November next year in Panama City Beach, FL and would include riding in on Friday, using the occasion to RTE that night; work the race on Saturday and for those not local staying over that night with another RTE and then heading home Sunday am. Does this sound like something that any of you might be interested in, or am I just smoking something weird in my pipe? Depending upon your response, I will take it to them.
Several of you know that I serve as a USA Triathon Official during the triathlon and duathlon racing season from April-November of each year. The bulk of my job at these events consists of mounting up as a passenger on the back of a motorcycle and riding the bicycle portion of these races and enforcing USA Triathlon rules by assessing time penalties for drafting and other position fouls that are not allowed the cyclists by the rules. Unfortunately, cheating has crept into the sport of triathlon, and since triathlons and duathlons are “time trial” style events, in that it is an individual race against the clock rather than a team sport like you might see while watching the Tour de France, etc., and since drafting behind another cyclist affords the person drafting (within 3 bike lengths) a tremendous energy savings advantage, enforcement of the drafting and other “position foul” rules are extremely important to insure a consistent degree of fairness is delivered to the event for ALL athletes competing, especially those abiding by the rules.
This past weekend, I officiated at Ironman Florida in Panama City Beach, FL, and without going into great detail, let me just say that the motorcycle support for the event started out with the potential of turning into a real fiasco. The motorcycle support had not been centrally coordinated for starters, and to top it off there were way fewer than we actually needed to do the job. If any of you have ever watched an Ironman Triathlon on TV, especially the one in Kona, Hawaii, then you know it is a high profile event, with multiple national level sponsors providing thousands in prize money to the professionals in the race, many of whom are Olympians; thousands of people in attendance and helping out, TV and press coverage everywhere, etc. It's not hard to imagine then how important it is that every detail be executed with precision, especially when the prize money of professional athletes is at stake. For reasons not hard for us to understand, BMW has become the support motorcycle of choice for these events to transport as passengers not only the press and TV video cameramen out on the course, but the race officials as well. The reasons include but are not limited to the fact that BMW’s are quiet, thus not telegraphing your presence if you are trying to catch “cheaters”; BMW riders are usually more accomplished riders and more adept at carrying passengers in challenging situations; on average are more maneuverable in tight places even the LT, etc., whereas the use of Harley’s and sport bikes, although appreciated for their willingness to work the event, leave something to be desired. Even today I am still a little stiff from having spent all day on the back of a Harley Road King :( , much less though than those poor slobs who were stuck all day on the back of a sport bike while trying to officiate…ouch. If you are a member of MOA, then you might have read an article in ON back in the Spring about providing moto support for the Ironman series and already have an idea of what I am talking about here.
So, the point of all this…aware that I rode an LT, the head official asked if I would be willing to be Moto Captain for next year’s Ironman Florida, with the goal of assembling 15-20 BMW’s to support the bike portion for the media and race officials in order to bring an elevated level of professionalism to this race. Initially I told him no, because 1.) I wasn’t sure I wanted to get that heavily obligated and involved in the first place, and 2.) since I don’t live in the area, I wasn’t sure I would be in a position to even begin rounding up that many BMW’s. UNLESS however, and this is why I am throwing this out to you, the race was willing to compensate and make the trip worthwhile to the riders something along the lines of:
A room provided to those not living in the immediate area
A stipend of $50-$75 dollars to work the event
A per mileage compensation to and from home in travel expenses
Complementary meals and access to VIP areas with food and drink day of race
The timeline would be same weekend in November next year in Panama City Beach, FL and would include riding in on Friday, using the occasion to RTE that night; work the race on Saturday and for those not local staying over that night with another RTE and then heading home Sunday am. Does this sound like something that any of you might be interested in, or am I just smoking something weird in my pipe? Depending upon your response, I will take it to them.